Railroad rail fragmenting apparatus and method

Abstract

Apparatus for fragmenting or subdividing railroad rails wherein rails on tiltable platforms at the respective outer sides of two longitudinally extending, parallel sets of conveyors are lifted, one at a time, over fences on the platforms and onto the conveyors by rotatable fingers along the laterally inner edges of the platform. Inverted, shiftable T-shaped hooks engage and right tipped over rails on the conveyors prior to notching. Chisels on the ends of extensible and retractable plungers notch the outer edges of the base flanges of the rails. The notched rails advance toward holding and breaking stations and are held against upstanding, contoured walls by another set of plungers with one pair of the notches transversely aligned with breaking edges on the walls. A third set of plungers engage the portions of the rails that project unsupported beyond the breaking edges and bend these portions until separation occurs. A method of fragmenting or subdividing railroad rails is also disclosed, which includes the steps of transporting rails along longitudinally extending paths, righting tipped-over rails on the paths, substantially simultaneously inserting laterally oppositely arranged notches in the base flange of each rail, stopping the rails so that the sets of notches therein are aligned with breaking edges on upstanding, contoured walls along the inner sides of the paths, holding the rails against the contoured walls, and bending the unsupported portions of the rails until the unsupported portions break off.

I claim: 
     
       1. Apparatus for fragmenting a rail having laterally outwardly extending base flanges, a wheel supporting head, and a web connecting said base flanges and said head, said apparatus comprising support means adapted to support said rail in an upright position so that the base flanges extend substantially horizontally, a pair of chisel members adapted to move in a plane extending generally transversely to said rail and into engagement with the laterally outer side edges of the base flanges of said rail with sufficient force to insert a pair of laterally oppositely arranged notches in said flanges, the direction of movement of each of said chisel members being inclined at an angle of about 10 degrees above the horizontal when said rail is supported in said upright position by said support means during notching, holding means adapted to engage a portion of said rail at one side of said notches and to prevent movement of said rail, and breaking means adapted to engage another portion of said rail at the other side of said notches and to bend said other portion until it breaks off. 
     
     
       2. The apparatus of claim 1, in which said notching means includes a pair of cylinders having extensible and retractable plungers entending therefrom, and said chisel members are mounted on the ends of said plungers. 
     
     
       3. The apparatus of claim 2, in which said cylinders are connected to a common source of fluid under pressure and are constructed and arranged so that the forces applied by said chisel members to a rail during notching are substantially equal. 
     
     
       4. Apparatus for fragmenting railroad rails comprising support means adapted to support a rail, notching means adapted to substantially simultaneously insert a pair of laterally oppositely arranged notches in said rail, an upstanding wall adapted to extend lengthwise and along one side of said rail, shiftable means adapted to engage a portion of said rail at one side of said notches and to shift said portion of said rail into engagement with said wall so as to prevent movement of said rail, and breaking means adapted to engage another portion of said rail at the other side of said notches and to bend said other portion until it breaks off. 
     
     
       5. The apparatus of claim 4, in which said shiftable means includes an extensible and retractable plunger. 
     
     
       6. The apparatus of claim 5, in which said rail has laterally outwardly extending base flanges, a wheel supporting head, and a web extending between said base flanges and said head, and the plunger of said shiftable means is adapted to engage the web of said portion of said rail. 
     
     
       7. The apparatus of claim 6, in which said support means is adapted to support said rail in an upright position during fragmentation with the base flanges extending substantially horizontally, and the direction of movement of the plunger of said shiftable means is substantially horizontal. 
     
     
       8. The apparatus of claim 6, in which said wall has an undercut portion adapted to engage and support the side edge of one of the base flanges of said rail when the side of the head of said rail is engaged with said wall. 
     
     
       9. The apparatus of claim 4, in which said rail has laterally outwardly extending base flanges, a wheel supporting head, and a web extending between said base flanges and said head, and said breaking means is adapted to engage one of the flanges of said other portion of said rail. 
     
     
       10. The apparatus of claim 9, in which said breaking means includes an extensible and retractable plunger adapted to move in a plane extending generally transversely to said rail. 
     
     
       11. The apparatus of claim 10, in which said support means is adapted to support said rail in an upright position during fragmentation with the base flanges extending substantially horizontally, and the direction of movement of the plunger of said breaking means is substantially horizontal. 
     
     
       12. The method of fragmenting a railroad rail having laterally outwardly extending base flanges, a wheel supporting head, and a web extending between said base flanges and said head, said method comprising the steps of transporting said rail along a path with said rail extending lengthwise of said path, substantially simultaneously inserting a pair of laterally oppositely arranged notches in the base flanges of said rail, stopping movement of said rail on said path so that the notches therein are in substantial transverse alignment with a breaking edge on a contoured support wall along one side of said path and so that another portion of said rail projects unsupported beyond said breaking edge, holding at least a portion of said rail at one side of said notches against said wall so that one side of said head and one of said base flanges concurrently contact said wall when said rail is stopped, and bending said other portion of said rail at the other side of said notches until said other portion breaks off. 
     
     
       13. The method of claim 12, including the additional step of rotating a tipped-over rail being transported on said path to an upright position before it is notched. 
     
     
       14. The method of claim 12, including the additional steps of providing a parallel pair of said paths, and sequentially notching, holding and bending portions of said rails at spaced locations along said paths.